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Wikitopia:Government Principles
2. Government Principles 2.A. Direct Democracy The democratic republic that exists today was conceived in a time when communication and transportation were much more difficult than they are. While our ability to more directly and immediately interact with our governing body has asymptotically improved, this has yet to manifest itself in modern political elections. Our current paradigm was optimal given the technology available to the philosophers who designed our system of regular elections. The advent of the Internet requires a revision of what is considered optimal. Hypothetically, every voter is capable of logging on to their computer regularly and voting on every bill. In practice, this isn't possible or preferable because the electorate doesn't have the time or the interest to devote to political issues. Imagine, however, that every citizen had this opportunity but was also able to delegate his or her voting power to another citizen. Citizens would choose to either have their voting record private or public, the advantage of enabling a public voting record being that one can encourage others to delegate them, consolidating their political voice. Leaders within the district would encourage citizens to delegate them. The typical citizen would "set it and forget it" unless he disagreed with his delegate's voting pattern. At any time, the citizen is capable of withdrawing the delegation or overriding a specific vote that the delegate has made. There would be no elections, no campaigning, and no politicians. The legislative process would be simultaneously more democratic and less intrusive for the typical citizen. 2.B. Social Contracts and Third Party Contracts This sovereign web application which has no function beyond emitting legally binding contracts will input proposals from third parties and output binding contracts. The web application will be "the people" and a "yay" vote to a contract proposed by a third party will be "the people" entering into a mutually binding agreement with the third party. There will be one unique contract that will be the "societal contract." The societal contract will be a single document explicitly stating the contractual relationship between the citizen and the "government." While the citizen can modify, extend, or limit the scope of this document through the democratic process, he is subject to it unless he renounces his citizenship, leaves the geographically sovereign territory, and owes the society no retribution. The societal contract will detail all civil rights, criminal acts, and consequences for violating terms of the contract. The other types of contracts are submitted by a third party wishing to enter a contractual relationship with "the people." It submits a contract for a vote, which is binding upon both it and "the people" if passed by a democratic vote. Non-profit organizations, for-profit corporations, and individuals may submit a contract for ratification. The will of the people is completely sovereign and a majority vote to rescind a contract will result in its immediate nullification. In practice, the contractors may choose to mitigate this risk with an insurance policy. This would cause premiums to rise and the cost of contracts to rise accordingly if the voters inequitably rescind contracts before their completion or expiration. Diagram 2.1 ---- (private voterA)------------------------>| (private voterB)--->(public voterD) >| Web-App |--->(third partyG) (private voterC) (public voterE)--->| X ^ X (third partyF)-----------------------------| | | (third partyG)--------------------------------| | (third partyH)-----------------------------------| A. This private voter voted directly for the specific proposal, exercising her right to truly direct democracy. B. This private voter delegated public voter D to vote on his behalf. C. This private voter neither voted directly nor has he selected a delegate. D. This public voter has been delegated by private voter B to vote on his behalf. His vote counts as two votes. E. This public voter hasn't been delegated, so his vote counts as one vote. F. This non-profit organization has submitted a contract which isn't competitive. G. This for-profit corporation has an excellent reputation and a competitive contract. Its contract is "ratified." H. This for-profit corporation offers the lowest bid but has a reputation of cutting corners.